


Stubborn oldmen

by numbika



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff and Humor, M/M, Night fluff, Oldmen in love, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:20:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29293563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/numbika/pseuds/numbika
Summary: The tired blue eyes looked sincere.There was no point in arguing.Vimes sighed and nodded, then did something he knew the ruler will mention in the future. He swallowed his pride and nodded again, now more to himself and the fact that he could feel himself blush.
Relationships: Havelock Vetinari/Samuel Vimes
Comments: 10
Kudos: 19





	Stubborn oldmen

Commander Vimes slowly blinked a couple and yawned into the dark room. He turned carefully on his back on the bed, trying to make as little noise as possible. Then he just listened the noises in the room. However, no matter how hard he focused the only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat echoing in his ears.

There was no lonely candle burning on the other side of the bed, no rustling of papers, and Vetinari's usual calm breathing was nowhere to be heard.

The Commander reached out slowly and touched the empty bed beside him.

He was alone.

He glanced toward the window, which was shrouded in complete darkness.

The dawn was still nowhere to be seen.

When could he have fallen asleep?

He rubbed his unshaven face as he recalled the memories one by one.

After finishing most of his work on the yard, he said goodbye to Angua and walked a last round of patrol around the city, then reached the Palace through the house on Demon Fly Street.

He found Vetinari in his office, who announced that he would join him later. The ruler didn’t even look up from his papers, so it must have been a pretty important matter.

The Commander followed the path of memories as he folded his arms under the back of his neck.

He had dinner and then ended up here.

And Vetinari was still nowhere.

Vimes ruffled his own hair and wiggled a bit under the blanket.

He was an adult who has slept alone countless times. In fact, in most of his life he had largely fallen asleep alone. He can sleep alone if he wants too.

Putting his hands on his chest, he slowly began to drum with his fingers.

He could, but every part of his body resisted against it.

"Ye, gods."

He pushed his blanket aside and then reached out for a candle.

Lord Vetinari run his gaze along the lines, checking each sentence over and over again. And though he didn't want to admit it eve to himself, his attention began to wander. He thought more and more about going up and finally getting some sleep with Vimes, who, he was sure, was already fast asleep.

The door opened without any knock.

There was a moment of silence.

"Sam?"

Vimes glanced down at the leader of the city, who was resting one of his elbows on the table. Under his eyes one can see the telltale circles of exhaustion.

_He's working too much_. The little voice whispered. _Like you'd do it_. Another voice answered.

Shaking his head, Vimes decided it was time to focus to the outside.

He glanced out the window of the office.

"What's the time?"

"Half past two, I think."

"You think? You should be asleep."

"I will, later," the ruler turned back to the papers resting in the table in front of him. He watched the approaching figure from the corner of his eye. He waited for a few moments, barely paying attention to the writing in front of him, and sighed softly as he felt Vimes' head press against his shoulder.

"Sam?"

"I'm tired, you're tired too." The Commander said slowly and softly. "Let's go get some sleep."

"Not yet."

There was another silence mixed with the scraping of Vetinari's pen.

"Havelock."

The scraping stopped.

Vimes felt the Patrician's body trembled slightly, causing a small, satisfied smile to appear on his face.

"What it is, Sam?"

"Let's go to sleep." He looked straight into Vetinari's pale blue eyes. "You look tired."

"Nonsense," the Patrician shook his head slightly, but the Commander clearly seen him stifling a yawn. "I need to review these papers. Trust me, this is really important now. I'll join you soon."

The tired blue eyes looked sincere.

There was no point in arguing.

Vimes sighed and nodded, then did something he knew the ruler will mention in the future. He swallowed his pride and nodded again, now more to himself and the fact that he could feel himself blush.

"All right," he leaned closer and kissed the Patrician's forehead.

"Sam?"

Instead of answering, Vetinari received a prickly but pleasant kiss on his cheek. No matter how hard he tried, the pen shook in his hand for a moment.

"Commander, are you aware that you are obstructing the ruler of the city of Ankh-Morpork at his important work?" He asked, putting his pen down from his hand as he leaned back in his chair and raised an eyebrow at the man.

"Maybe," replied Vimes with a burning red face. "Even if you don't go to sleep, you do need to rest a little. Yeah, I know I'm blushing hard, don't say a word."

Vetinari smiled, then chuckled softly in the kiss the Commander tried to silence him with.

"What if you looked through the papers in bed?" He said as he stroked Vetinari's face with the tip of his fingers. "That way I, and you can lean out right after that."

"Attractive offer, Commander." Patrician glanced down at his papers. However, the reading he still had to do would take him at least another hour.

"I sleep better when you're there next to me."

Vetinari slowly picked up the papers from the table and took his walking cane from the side of the table.

"Then we should go, I can't let the Commander of the City Watch do his work without a good night sleep."

He received a visible eye roll as an answer.

Reaching to the room they decided to sleep that day, Vimes opened the door and closed it behind them. He watched Vetinari's figure for a few moments.

In the candlelight, he seemed much more human.

The Commander thought this was ironic, considering there were times when he too shared the common belief that the ruler of the city was some kind of a vampire, or at least not entirely human.

Now, however, the exhausted Patrician sat down on the edge of his wide bed and slowly rubbed his injured thigh. Then with a well-practiced motion he lit a candle next to him.

Vimes followed his example, but he himself blown out his own candle and buried himself under the blanket. For a while he just listened to the scratching of the pen.

"I never thought you could be forcefull. "

The Commander snorted sincerely, his face becoming flaming red again.

"I would have worked late into the night more than usual if I knew, you would react this way."

The answer was a self-conscious murmur, followed by a very adult gesture: He turned his back to him.

Vetinari chuckled as he glanced towards him.

"In fact, maybe I'll include regular excessive paperwork into my calendar from now on."

"Alright, that's it." Rising, Vimes leaned past the ruler and blew out the candle. He then carefully but firmly took away the papers resting in the Patricians lap, before placing them on the nightstand. After all that. he pulled the chuckling figure down into the bed with him.

"I could call my personal guard, you know?"

"I'm your personal guard."

"Oh!"

"Shut it." Vimes buried his crimson face into the Patrician's hair, who as an answer gave him a warm smile.

He adjusted the blanket over themselves and stretched beside the softly murmuring man.

"Thank you. Then good night, Sam."

"Good night." Vimes slowly stroked his back. Aside his endless embarrassment he also felt some pride inside.

"I love you."

The pride was completely overwhelmed by the other feeling.

"Mh," he replied tellingly.

However, Vetinari could feel the man pulling him closer. Closing his eyes, he inhaled the man's smoky scent as he was falling asleep.

Not long after, Vimes followed him, but only after his face stopped blazing red, and his heart was no longer beating so violently.


End file.
